


The Lone Wolf

by velveteenvamp



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Gen, No Dialogue, a wolf reference involving the starks how original of me, arya is an icon, just a little drabble about her tenacity and rebellious nature
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26462350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velveteenvamp/pseuds/velveteenvamp
Summary: Arya was always a maverick.
Kudos: 7





	The Lone Wolf

If there was just one word that all of Arya Stark's peers agreed on to sum the wolf girl up, it would have surely been ' _obstinate_ '. 

From the moment of her birth, she had been a maverick. She was born undersized and her slower physical development was treated as an affliction by everybody who knew her. But what she lacked in the corporeal, she _more_ than made up for in the spirit. There was nothing tiny about her temper or her tenacity, she was forever in trouble for disobeying her elders and for not performing as well as her older sister, Sansa. 

Where Sansa dreamed of marrying a prince and bearing many heirs, Arya dreamed of becoming a warrior like Visenya Targaryen, except, instead of a dragon, she'd have a direwolf in battle. As far as the youngest Stark girl was concerned, she couldn't imagine a fate worse than being treated as an object and having to pretend that she gave a shit about things like embroidery. She couldn't stand the politics and she had never quite understood why being born into a certain family automatically granted you privileges above those who just so happened to be born into a 'lower' circle. Arya saw no difference between herself and the butcher's boy. 

Years of vagrancy had only further ensured that Arya would only ever be a Lady by title and not by nature. Frequent starvation meant that she learned to eat quickly and plentiful when the opportunity arose; there was no place for manners amidst desperation. Often, when there was food, there was ale. At first, she despised the taste of alcohol--it burned her throat and made her feel funny so she would always refuse it. Over time, she learned not to mind it so much and the burning that would slowly warm her chest reminded her that she was still alive during those particularly harsh nights. It was true what Yoren had once told her, that _you don't drink it for the flavour_. 

As a girl, she would insist on playing with her brothers. Inevitably, they would all be quite filthy by the end of it, mud, grass and god-knows-what-else sticking to their skin and clothes. While it was expected of her brothers, Arya would always be in for an earful by the Septa. She would be scrubbed until her skin turned a shade of fierce pink all while being told that a Lady would _never_ do such a thing and that if she were to find a Prince, she would have to behave more genteel. Arya had quickly learned to tune it out and think back to the tales of fierce women warriors instead. 

Over time, the dirt that she collected turned into blood. Each bloodstain that her burlap tunic collected became a trophy of sorts. Bloodstains lended her a fierceness that belied her petite frame. Scars came with the bloodstains, too. Her scars were nothing like the Hound's, of course, but she still bore some across her back, a testament to the hard-won battles she fought. 

Arya possessed not the vision of Bran, nor the fairness of Sansa. But while they were known for such things and eventually became the monarchs to prove it, Arya became legendary in her own right. While her title may have formally been upgraded to Princess, that wasn't what the people called her. Instead, she was known as something _far_ greater: the Hero of Winterfell, the wolf girl who had slayed the terrible Night King. She was not just a warrior, but a pioneer, too. Now her name would be immortalised just like Visenya Targaryen's and future generations would read about Princess Arya Stark, the woman who rejected the shackles of nobility in order to carve out her own destiny. 

Not content with 'just' her impressive feats in battle, Arya decided that she wanted to see the world. She was brave enough to want to venture beyond Westeros--she knew that there _had_ to be something more out there and whatever it was, she was determined to find out. If anybody could discover what laid west of Westeros, it was undoubtedly Arya Stark, the maverick, the pioneer, the legend. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Arya is one of my favourite characters of all time and she's been on my mind lately.


End file.
